The U.S. Department of Justice circulated an internal memo warning staff that Binance’s cooperation on crypto-related enforcement cases would decrease starting June 8. Binance, for its part, denied that anything is changing.
What the memo says, and what Binance says
The internal DOJ memo, which has not been publicly released in full, reportedly flagged a coming reduction in Binance’s willingness or ability to assist U.S. authorities with crypto enforcement actions. The timing, June 8, was specific enough to suggest this was not vague bureaucratic hedging.
Binance responded by denying any planned change in its cooperation posture. The exchange has not elaborated publicly on the specifics of what the DOJ memo actually described, which makes it difficult to reconcile the two positions without more transparency from either side.
In November 2023, Binance pleaded guilty to federal charges and agreed to pay approximately $4.3 billion, one of the largest corporate settlements in U.S. history. That deal came with strings attached, specifically a three-year compliance monitor from Forensic Risk Alliance embedded on the DOJ side, and a five-year monitor from the Treasury Department’s side. Cooperation with U.S. authorities was not optional. It was baked into the terms of Binance avoiding a much worse outcome.
